BIO: Who's This Wayne Wasion Guy, ANYWAY?
First off, to clear the air, my last name is pronounced WAY-sun. It's really not as difficut as it looks.
I grew up in a musical family, the middle child of 5 boys. My mother, Darlene, taught piano, accordion and ballroom dance. (She could rip up a polka on the accordion like nobody's business!) My dad, Bob, was a drummer. My oldest brother, Larry, played bass and my older brother, Steve, played drums. When my parents owned a music store, I took about three drum lessons as a child, but, not appreciating the importance of building technique, got quickly bored with it. I wanted to play the drums like my dad, not patter around on a rubber pad. I probably would have stuck it out had my dad been the teacher, but he was busy with other stuff. My mom tried teaching me piano, but music escaped me; I just couldn't understand it. I couldn't tell the difference between a quarter and an eighth note. She also tried teaching me accordion. Forget that! Not only was that more challenging than the piano (what's with the bazillion buttons on the right hand?), but the cool factor was pretty much in the cellar.
Singing? I was the kid in music class at school that the teacher asked not to sing out loud. I had no ear for music and couldn't hold a tune to save my life.
As a teenager in junior high and then high school, I ended up taking up the drums without lessons, and got decent on them for my age and experience. (At least my friends asked me to start bands with them from time to time, which typically, went nowhere.) And I didn't have to know a lick of music to beat on the things. Then I took up the bass, where my playing was purely mechanical. I learned where to put my fingers and when to put them there, but had no understanding of the musical why. I didn't know what the notes were that I was playing, But I got by, and friends asked me to join them in bands playing that, too. (And my dad bought me a cool Conrad violin bass!)
Then in 1972, in my senior year of high school, after a year of rebellion, hallucinogens, weed and hash, I became a Christian and everything changed. My song Don't Tell Me is a reflection of that change. It was radical and was literally over night. That summer after graduation, three other Christian friends, Dave, Mike, and John, needed a fourth roommate to rent a house and asked me to join them, which I did. Dave played the guitar, similar in style to James Taylor. I picked up his guitar one day and heard a voice inside me saying, "You're going to learn how to play this thing." Almost immediately, something swept over me. It was like the veil was torn in two and I could suddenly understand music.
In the ensuing months I studied Noel Paul Stookey and James Taylor, among other guitarists. And with the help of my roommate, started building a proficiency on the guitar. I bought my own first guitar, a Yamaha, and hardly ever put it down. Eventually I went to a 12-string Alvarez, and have played 12s ever since. I was married in 1975 to Sally, and we performed mostly original songs in Christian coffeehouses in southeast Iowa in the mid-to-late 1970s and early 80s under the stage name Warmth of the Son. The highlight of our music ministry was performing at the Capitol Theater in Davenport, IA, which was temporarily turned into "A Christian Teaching and Ministry Center" called "The Happy Place.
In the ensuing months I studied Noel Paul Stookey and James Taylor, among other guitarists. And with the help of my roommate, started building a proficiency on the guitar. I bought my own first guitar, a Yamaha, and hardly ever put it down. Eventually I went to a 12-string Alvarez, and have played 12s ever since. I was married in 1975 to Sally, and we performed mostly original songs in Christian coffeehouses in southeast Iowa in the mid-to-late 1970s and early 80s under the stage name Warmth of the Son. The highlight of our music ministry was performing at the Capitol Theater in Davenport, IA, which was temporarily turned into "A Christian Teaching and Ministry Center" called "The Happy Place.
I've also in recent years taken up the drums and bass again for recording. And I'm still in the beginning stages of learning the ukelele and mandolin. (The banjo is on my radar.) Keyboards still escape me, but my son, Jimmy, has become quite the master on the keyboards, so I try to work him in when I need a keyboardist, though his schedule can be difficult to work with, having a career and family of his own.
And I can honestly say that Jesus changed my life in many ways - music being among the most dramatic.
I'm still not the best vocalist, and I could be a better guitarist than I am, had I more consistently devoted myself to the craft. But life happens. Getting married, supporting a family, and being in the ministry for a couple decades took precedence. But I do what I can, and am relatively happy with the results, though I find that rarely is anything completed. I'm forever finding things to improve.
And it'll probably always be that way.
And I can honestly say that Jesus changed my life in many ways - music being among the most dramatic.
I'm still not the best vocalist, and I could be a better guitarist than I am, had I more consistently devoted myself to the craft. But life happens. Getting married, supporting a family, and being in the ministry for a couple decades took precedence. But I do what I can, and am relatively happy with the results, though I find that rarely is anything completed. I'm forever finding things to improve.
And it'll probably always be that way.